The main leaders of the global airline industry will meet from Sunday, October 3 to Tuesday, October 5 in Boston, United States, to participate in the 77th IATA General Assembly and the World Air Transport Summit, within the framework of a market that is in the road to recovery after the impact of the first year of the pandemic, which left unthinkable numbers such as the following:
– 62.2% drop in passenger traffic. Only 1.8 billion passengers flew in 2020 while 4.5 billion flew last year.
– 65.9% was the passenger demand collapse (measured in RPK).
– 76.6% was the drop in international passengers (RPK).
– The domestic segment fell 48.8% (in RPK).
– Airlines recorded losses of USD 189 billion.
– Capacity (ASK) collapsed by 56.7%.
– The overall occupancy factor reached 65.1%, versus 82.5% in 2019.
But the recovery could be faster if the problems generated by the lack of coordination among governments at the global level were resolved, and this is how Willie Walsh, IATA’s General Director, put it in the special edition of Airlines (the entity’s publication) dedicated to the AGM: «People want to travel (…) But governments are making it too difficult to cross borders by air.»
«Data and experience show us that this can be achieved without the restrictions that effectively deny people the freedom to travel», Walsh continues, while recognizing that governments have a responsibility to protect the health of their people.
In principle, IATA states as a «top priority» that those who are vaccinated should have no restrictions, while those who are unvaccinated should be subject to harmonized rules backed up by data to keep passengers safe without restricting their freedom of movement.
This problem affects both developed and developing nations. Walsh mentions that in Europe, even with a common regulatory framework and a tool such as the COVID Digital Certificate, there is still a low level of harmonization among countries.
In Latin America, we have cases such as Mexico, which has never closed its borders, and on the other hand, those extreme cases such as Argentina and Chile, which have recently begun to make their policies more flexible. And in between, there is a significant variety of regulatory ranges that differ from country to country.
«There are out there way confusing requirements that need to be cleared up. We need to find efficient ways to live and travel with COVID-19″, Walsh continued. This is the critical message of the IATA General Assembly and the World Air Transport Summit», he concluded, emphasizing how bringing together delegates and journalists from around the world is a clear example that virtual reality will never have the same value as face-to-face in-person reality.
First-day agenda
This Sunday will take place in a more informal setting, with social and private meetings, while the Assembly will formally begin on Monday 4 from 8:00 to 10:00 local time (UTC -4).
At 10:00 Willie Walsh will give the first press conference, accompanied by Robin Hayes, CEO of JetBlue, host airline of the AGM, and Chairman of the Board of Governors of IATA.
At 10:45, John Heimlich, Vice President and Chief Economist of Airlines for America will make a presentation on the industry’s recovery and economic outlook.
At 11:15, the Diversity and Inclusion Awards will be presented, while at 13:15, Sebastien MIkosz, Senior VP Environment, and Sustainability will give a lecture on the environment and the industry.
At 14:20 precisely the debate will be about how aviation can meet the challenge of climate change. This debate will be featured by Guillaume Faury, CEO of Airbus, Stanley Deal, CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, Pieter Ebers, President and CEO of KLM, Dr. Jennifer Holmgren, CEO of LanzaTech, and Annie Petsonk, Assistant Secretary for Aviation and International Affairs at the U.S. Department of Transportation.
At 15:30 will be the time of a press conference entitled «Restarting Global Travel» by Conrad Clifford, IATA Senior VP and Deputy Director-General; and Alan Murray Hayden, IATA Head Airline, Airport and Security.
At 16:15, four CEOs will participate in the last discussion of the day: Lynen Embleton of Aer Lingus; Sir Tim Clark of Emirates Airline; Rono Dutta of Indigo; Carsten Spohr of Lufthansa and Scott Kirby of United Airlines.
Aviacionline is present in Boston to cover the most important event of the airline industry, so we invite you to follow all the updates that we will be broadcasting through the microsite aviacionline.com/iataagm2021 and the minute by minute on our Twitter account, as well as our YouTube channel, with the streaming of the most relevant conferences.
